PNNL

Abstract

Airborne particles are important in climate, visibility, human health and atmospheric reactions. Organics associated with airborne particles are thought to be oxidized to polar, hygroscopic species with enhanced cloud-nucleating properties. We show that ozone oxidation of unsaturated organics on silica as a proxy for airborne dust leads to the formation of hydrophobic polymer balls which do not increase the uptake of water as previously assumed. We propose that atmospheric formation of hydrophobic polymers is generally controlled by the availability of water rather than acid, and hence is much more common in the lower atmosphere than previously recognized.